


Animacy

by Archaeopteryx



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Autistic Pearl, Gen, Nonbinary Character, Other, Stimming, Validation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-25
Updated: 2015-03-25
Packaged: 2018-03-19 13:22:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 928
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3611583
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Archaeopteryx/pseuds/Archaeopteryx
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pearl doesn't move or talk the way everyone wants em to. Rose Quartz loves em for it.</p><p>Pearl/Rose is canonically mutual</p>
            </blockquote>





	Animacy

Ey cocked eir head, frowning, and then all of a sudden a critical piece fell into place. “There!” Ey hummed happily to emself, eir hands flying through eir hologram to manipulate parts with ease — a bad habit, yes, but one ey was too excited not to indulge. This problem had been plaguing em for weeks — a convergence of power causing short-circuits and, eventually, explosions — and having at least a hypothetical solution brought em immense relief and satisfaction.

Slotting the last component into its new place, ey stepped back and surveyed eir work, hands on eir hips and a pleased grin on eir face. Ey murmured to emself, cataloguing parts and interactions, occasionally reaching out to tweak something into neater position, brightening as ey reviewed more and more of the design without apparent flaw. The new design was neater, smoother, more efficient and elegant in mechanism as well as, hopefully, more functional, with a few redirections of power flow that filled em with warm sparks of pride — this was good! Eir work was good!

Ey severed the link to eir hologram and spun, hands flying up to eir chin to flap excitedly. “I did it! It works! Well, it should — it shouldn’t be hard to test — I did it!”

Rose Quartz chuckled, and the Pearl froze, dropping reflexively back into a military stance — back straight, shoulders taut, hands clasped behind eir back. “I — I mean,” ey said, stiff and nervous, “t-the new design should function to — and, I believe, beyond — specifications.”

Rose Quartz frowned slightly, and the Pearl bit eir tongue, suppressing eir nervous trembling at the disapproval of a superior.

“Is something wrong?” asked Rose. Pearl swallowed.

“N-no, not at all,” ey said, smiling uneasily. “Everything’s fine! Just fine.” Stop talking, ey thought, and snapped eir jaw shut.

Rose’s frown dissolved, but eir face fell. The Pearl tightened eir fingers around eir wrist, waiting.

“Did I do something wrong?”

“No!” Ey waved eir hands in front of eir chest, shaking eir head. Noticing the motion, ey tucked eir hands behind eir back again, blushing with embarrassment. “No, of course not.”

“Oh. That’s good … ” It hurt the Pearl — not with anxiety, with something deeper — to see Rose Quartz looking so dejected. “You looked so happy, and then you stopped.”

Pearl froze, confused. Ey replayed the last few moments in eir mind: ey had finally fixed that short-circuit problem; ey had forgotten emself and gotten overexcited; Rose had laughed at em — at em? Had the Pearl misread that?

“You don’t mind?” ey asked tentatively, tucking eir chin against eir chest as eir nervous blush deepened. If ey ran eir thumb over eir knuckles behind eir back, that was okay; no one was around to see.

Rose’s eyes widened, and eir lips parted slightly for a startled breath. “Oh, Pearl — Pearl, of course I don’t mind. I love it when you’re happy. You show it so much — how could I not?”

“R-really?” Ey glanced up at Rose’s expression from under eir bangs. Rose smiled with a warmth that made the Pearl’s skin tingle; ey hid eir face again, this time hiding not just eir still-deepening blush but the silly smile ey couldn’t quite swallow. Rose had always been safe for em, ey remembered; there was a reason ey could work at all with Rose Quartz around, when normally the presence of an audience — supervisors, peers, or strangers — made em nearly too jittery to function. “Even when I … ?” Ey brought eir hands out from behind eir back to demonstrate, with a more subdued version of eir earlier flapping.

"Especially when you do that," said Rose. “It’s you. It’s lovely.”

Lovely, thought Pearl giddily. I’m lovely. Rose thinks I’m lovely. “But,” ey stammered, bursting eir own bubble of euphoria, “but you laughed.”

"Oh!" One of Rose’s hands lifted, probably to cover eir mouth. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean that. I just love seeing you happy.” Eir hand returned to eir lap again, eir fingers lacing and twisting in a way that made the Pearl startle with recognition. “When you’re happy, I’m happy. I’m sorry. I wasn’t laughing at you.”

“Oh,” Pearl echoed, looking up again shyly. Ey couldn’t meet Rose’s eyes for more than a moment, but ey didn’t hide eir face, and ey let eir shoulders slacken, let eir back relax from its military stiffness. “I misunderstood.”

“That’s okay,” said Rose. Eir smile brightened, and the Pearl felt eir own face shift to match — felt it in eir whole stance, nervous rigidity replaced with fluid comfort, eir chest filled with liquid light. “I didn’t mean to interrupt you. What did you do?”

“Oh! Yes!” Pearl pirouetted back to face eir hologram, still waiting patiently in midair, and launched into an enthusiastic explanation of the mechanism. Eir hands flew, describing circuitry and parts in the air with occasional holographic aid. When ey glanced back at an anxious prompting, Rose Quartz had eir chin propped on eir hands, watching with captivated interest.

Ey bounced to eir toes as ey talked, pacing with quick, fluttery steps and eager spins to emphasize a point. Prompted by occasional questions from eir audience of one, ey talked until time blurred behind the broadening web of concepts and technical details. Rose Quartz never looked anything less than fascinated, though Pearl knew technology was not eir specialty, and that fascination lent yet more energy to eir voice and step.

Each time ey checked, prompted by worry about eir speech or movements, ey saw Rose’s expression soft and warm and wondering, and eir fear dissolved in a flood of light.


End file.
